You were dead because
of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he
forgave all our sins….Don’t let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious
self-denial or the worship of angels, saying they have had
visions about these things. Their sinful
minds have made them proud, and they are not
connected to Christ, the head of the body. For he holds the whole body together with its
joints and ligaments, and it grows as God nourishes it. Colossians
2:13, 18-19 (NLT)
Paul told the church body
gathered at Colossae that the forgiveness of God is extended to whoever places
his/her faith in Jesus; it is free because of God’s mercy and grace. That “transaction” releases us from the
ultimate penalty of sin – eternal death, which is final separation from
God.
And then Paul reminds them to not
be intimidated by those who want to take them back to their “pre-Christ days” –
rules, ceremonies, schedules and rituals.
He said those things are only shadows of the reality which is in our
future.
This is joy unspeakable, and full
of glory! Condemned in the shadows, we
are freed by the future! Set free, we are
free indeed!
But let us be quick to point out
that Paul never said that since we are free we can now do
anything we want.
No…far from it! Notice the last part of Paul’s instructions
about those who are connected to the head of the church – Christ:
For he holds the
whole body together with its joints and ligaments, and it grows as God
nourishes it. Colossians
2:19 (NLT)
A body that decides to do whatever it wants would be
unable to sustain. Legs that decide to be
noses, or fingers that want to be kidneys, will not function to make the body
healthy. God wants to nourish and
strengthen the body of Christ, but we must embrace that nourishment as we were
meant to live.
And so that requires different
than just rules, permission-giving leaders and ceremonies; it requires the body
to be integrated, congruent – held together in the kind of koinonia or
relationship that allows and supports each member to thrive.
In his letter to the Ephesian
church Paul explained it this way:
He makes the whole body fit together
perfectly. As each part does its own
special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy
and growing and full of love. Ephesians
4:16 (NLT)
Rules and laws are never for the
peaceful person of integrity; they’re intended to keep the lawless ones in
check. Law is intended to keep the
rioters off the streets.
The older I get the more
convinced I am that the royal law of love cannot be litigated. God needs Christian lawyers, certainly, but
you cannot bring a conscience to justice with externals; it’s an inside
job!
God gave each of us created
beings free will. And because the gifts
and calling of God are without repentance[2]
God also refuses to violate that free will by making us conform our will to
His; that is entirely an act of volition, a voluntary response to the loving
acts of God in Jesus Christ on the cross.
The logic follows that you can
use the free will you were born with any way you….will.
If you want to exercise that will
to please the Creator (as you were hard-wired to do), you surrender it back to
Him, and let God use you to be a blessing.
In The Lion King, Mufasa, the
daddy lion-king, pointed to the way the animals eat each other and eventually
return to the ground as food for the next generation. He told his son, Simba, the cub who would be
the heir: it’s the circle of life.
With respect to Disney…Mufasa got
it wrong; that is the circle of death - the circle
of life
is when the humans love other humans and by it they honor God.
For You Today
Mufasa got
one thing right; he warned Simba to stay far away from the place of
shadows.
So right!
Stay away
from the condemning darkness; live in God’s light; it’s how God holds the body
of Christ together and nourishes us.
That will see us home safely.
Think about
that out on your rocky road today; and have a great day!
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